Ah, the hazards of being a catcher. During a simulated game, big righthander Kevin Beirne bounced a slider and it carromed right into the man region of Tomoya Satozaki. Satozaki went right to the ground, where he laid for ten minutes before the trainer and another player picked him up and carted him off the field and into the locker room. The jewels were bruised and initially swelled up considerably, but after an hour, he felt much better and later participated in the above parade. 

Pitcher Masatoshi Yanagida threw 65 pitches in a simulated game and had difficulty finding the strike zone. Yanagida'a parents were in attendance and the youngster may have been tense as a result. Valentine took that into account, saying afterward that "he threw well considering that he was nervous." 

Nippon Ham There was a nice turnout for the Fighters practice game Sunday, so manager Trey Hillman and his coaches must have figured they would give the fans what they wanted. Centerfielder Tsuyoshi Shinjo came up in the first with a man on. The third base coach flashed the "hit a home run" sign (this is a running joke among the ballclub). Shinjo laughed and then blasted  a 1-1 hanging changeup into the leftcenterfield seats for a two run homer. 

In the seventh, the coach flashed the sac bunt sign. Shinjo yelled over, "so which is it?" The coached changed it to the home run sign. However, this time, Shinjo only torched a double down into the leftfield corner. 

A Rakuten scout contradicted Golden Eagles manager Katsuya Nomura, who said that Shinjo isn't the type of player they have to focus on to beat the Sapporo-based outfit. The scout evaluated that, "when he's hot, he is REAL hot. How to put him in a bad streak? It all comes down to where Shinjo's personality is at any given time. He's a headache for scouts." 

Nomura referred to Shinjo as little more than a tv personality and inquired as to whether he is still dying his hair blonde. 

Infielder Michihiro Ogasawara, who was zero for his last ten before he singled in that intrasquad affair, said that his preparations are going as expected. 

Orix Third baseman Norihiro Nakamura fouled a ball high and far over the back wall of the ballpark they were using, the sphere striking a parked car and leaving a nice spider web-like crack in the front windshield. Security people went out to check on it, apologies were expressed and the damage will be paid for by the ballclub. As it turns out, though, the driver of the car is a big fan of Kazuhiro Kiyohara dating back to his days with Seibu, so Kiyohara, minor league manager and onetime Lions centerfielder Koji Akiyama and former Lions hurler Osamu Higashio, currently a baseball commentator, all signed the offending ball for him. He also got a great story out of it, so not too shabby a day for the guy. 

Kiyohara showed up at practice wearing a Mariners windbreaker  that Ichiro Suzuki sent him. It turns out that he, infielder Hirotoshi Kitagawa, pitcher Masato Yoshii, Nakamura, and manager Katsuhiro Nakamura are all going to appear in a comedy program that will be staged in Osaka's Chuo Ward on March 10th. Don't bother about tickets, it is already sold out. Yoshii reportedly wants to play a yakuza in the production. 

Kiyohara also said that if anyone gives lefthander Dan Serafini a bad time, he will be Serafini's bodyguard. This causes one to recall when Serafini buzzed Softbank slugger Julio Zuleta with a pitch in one game. Zuleta sprinted to the mound and Serafini attempted to fend the big Panamanian off with a karate kick, but Zuleta avoided it and then slammed Serafini to the ground after grabbing him by the neck. 

The foreign players on the club enthuse that "[Kiyohara] is a legend." 

It took him until his third intrasquad game, but Nakamura finally connected for a knock and drove in a run Sunday, that coming off of a fastball from Kazuo Yamaguchi. 

Katsuhiko Maekawa, who threw a perfect inning in that intrasquad contest, will start for the Buffaloes in their first 2006 
exhibition game on the 25th. 

Reliever Daisuke Miyamoto is still dogged by that calcifying ligament problem, so he has returned to Osaka to treat it. Therefore, reliever Tatsuo Kato has been promoted to the top team in Miyamoto's place. 

Rakuten Hisashi Iwakuma is the team's putatative ace, but after a disappointing 2005, he could begin the regular season on the disabled list, as his shoulder still isn't allowing him to throw at full speed. So he will be sent down to the minor league camp with a physical therapist while the rest of the top team prepares for exhibition action.  

Seibu After following Hirotoshi Ishii like a lovestruck groupie this spring, Mariners scout Yasushi Yamamoto has now turned his attention to Lions ace Daisuke Matsuzaka in anticipation that he, like Ishii, might be posted after this season ends. According to Hochi Sports, the M's will be using every analytical tool short of giving him a colonoscopy during the WBC. The scout showed up at Seibu's camp Sunday to watch him work out. Seattle is also setting up an exhibition game against Japan's WBC squad in Arizona after they get out of the Asia round. Then it will be all hands, and I mean ALL hands, on deck for the M's scouting and player personnel departments if that happens. It could be all for nought, though, as Matsuzaka wants to be a Yankee. However, Ishii is friends with Kenji Johjima and indicated that he would be amenable to playing in the Pacifric Northwest if Johjima says it is a good environment. 

Infielder Akira Etoh's albow is still bothering him when he hits, but he figures that he will forget about it Tuesday in a practice game with his old team, Hiroshima, figuring that the adrenalin will cause him to forget the aches. In his most recent intrasquad game on the 18th, he went 0-4. 

Softbank Rookie centerfielder Ryuma Kidokoro clocked three hits and scored four times Sunday in an intrasquad game. He is now six for his last seven at the plate.

400 game winning hall of fame southpaw Masaichi Kaneda gave the following advice to lefthander Tsuyoshi Wada, a newlywed: "I heard your wife is a beautiful woman. You had better be careful to hold on to your rotation spot if you want to keep her."